Scholars have been studying the concept of public engagement and its role in the policy process for some time. Scholars have argued that understanding the interests and motivations of the public and engaging them in the decision‐making process can lead to better policy designs and, ultimately, better policy outcomes. However, studies of public engagement often assume that people have a desire to get involved in the policy process. This paper tests this key assumption using the case of nuclear facility siting in the United States to ask: what factors influence an individual's stated willingness to want to engage in the policy process? Using data from a national web survey fielded in 2013, we ask the public if and to what extent they would likely engage in the siting process if given the opportunity. Findings indicate that the likelihood of engagement varies rather substantially across individuals. We find that an individual's cultural belief system and existing level of political activity account for some of this variation. These findings suggest that public engagement programs may vary across groups and communities. In other words, the prospects of engagement are likely to appeal to some members of the population and not others.
We are pleased to present the sixth edition of the Public Policy Yearbook. Each year, dating back to its launch in 2009, we have used the content of the Yearbook to develop indicators for tracking developments in public policy scholarship. While we recognize that trends we can identify are only representative of the sample of Yearbook scholars, the patterns of scholarly focus have remained quite stable despite a more than doubling of our membership over the 2009-2014 period. In this introductory article, following a brief description of the Yearbook, we take a comparative look at how research trends in the Yearbook have evolved over the last six years. What Is the Yearbook?The Yearbook was initiated as a hard-copy special edition of the Policy Studies Journal in 2009, and then migrated to an open-access, web-based format (www.psjyearbook.com) in 2011. Each year, through our fall campaign we contact scholars and ask them to provide us with their most recent contact information, fields of specialization, research publications, and a brief summary stating their research interests. This information is verified and presented in a format that provides users with easy access to the Yearbook's content via the Internet.The mission of the Yearbook falls primarily into two categories. We designed the Yearbook to allow users to have a systematic way to identify the broader public policy research community. The multidisciplinary nature of public policy research can make it challenging to identify the experts studying various policy problems, and the Yearbook provides a convenient and helpful instrument to do so. The Yearbook is a broadly inclusive international listing of experts in various public policy domains, identifying individuals working on public policy problems in over 47 countries. By assembling this content, the Yearbook also provides an excellent tool for public policy scholars to increase and broaden the visibility of their work, and to provide the means to network with other researchers, scholars, and graduate students. In addibs_bs_banner The Policy Studies Journal, Vol. 42, No. S1, 2014 S1 0190-292X
The Public Policy Yearbook is now in its fourth iteration and continues to serve as a useful tool for examining recent changes in public policy scholarship over the past several years. The Yearbook itself has changed considerably over time: in addition to providing a detailed international listing of policy scholars with contact information, fields of specialization, research references, 1 and individual scholars' statements of current and future research interests, the September 2011 Yearbook made its debut online as a versatile web-tool. The Yearbook's content is now accessible, in searchable form, via the Internet-providing links to scholars' bios, articles, abstracts, and review articles. Individuals can now search for a scholar's profile according to name, geographic location, institution, or research interests. The online Yearbook also includes retrospective research reviews for specific theoretical and substantive policy subfields. These peer-reviewed articles summarize the most recent developments (primarily over the past two years) in scholarship in specific policy subfields. The online Yearbook allows for in-text citations to be activated, taking readers directly to scholars' bios and provides listings of additional scholars with similar research interests. By providing a snapshot of scholarship in particular domains, the Yearbook provides a quick and accessible reference to the current state of scholarship on all aspects of public policy, as well as indications of future research directions. This allows public policy scholars to gain visibility and it facilitates networking within the policy research community. The contents of the latest edition are summarized below. Methodology and Characterizing Yearbook Public Policy ScholarsSince the Yearbook's inception in 2009, we have employed a convenience and referral sampling strategy. One of the difficulties with identifying the field of "public policy scholars" lies in the multidisciplinary nature of the field. Policy scholars work and operate within a wide rage of institutional settings, making it difficult to identify the ideal sampling frame that captures the full population. Our sampling frame came from the listed members of the American Political Science
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.